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Vol. XXVI No. 14, November 1-15, 2016

BANNED – but a continuing practice

by Seetha Gopalakrishnan

Skin irritations, respiratory distresses and sometimes even death, it is a life of suffering for the cleaners of human filth. Though people no longer carry excreta on their heads anywhere in Tamil Nadu, the practice of manually handling and disposing of human waste is still prevalent in many parts of the State, including the capital city.

My mother used to head out with a basket full of ash every day. She would visit dry latrines in the area one by one, sprinkle the ash on the night soil, scoop it up and carry the excreta-filled basket on her head to dump the contents into a small tanker. This was almost 40 years back in our Singara Chennai,” recounts Ravanaiah, who accompanied his mother, occasionally.

sad-story
This picture tells it all, makes for a very sad story.
scavengers
The government no longer employs scavengers as a permanent employees. Contract staff take care of such operations

The Madhigas, a sub-caste of the Adi Andhras, are a Telugu-speaking community employed as scavengers by the administration for over a century now. Ravanaiah, who is a Madhiga, says, “but scavenging was not our traditional occupation. Our ancestors were leather craftsmen. Considered as untouchables even among Dalits, we did not have an option but to comply with what was thrust upon us.”

As in most other States, the occupation of scavenging is almost always reserved for Dalits. In Tamil Nadu, the most disadvantaged among Dalits – the Madharis, Chakkiliyans, Thoti, Madhiga and Adi Andhras, collectively known as Arunthathiyars – were charged with such tasks. Ravanaiah, however, broke out of the degrading tradition and now works for the uplift of his people through the Tamil Nadu Adi Andhra Arunthathiya Maha Sabha. Despite Tamil Nadu’s impressive toilet coverage statistics, the practice of manually disposing of human excreta persists, covertly endorsed by corporations and panchayats. Open defecation (OD) and manual scavenging are everyday realities even in the large cities, regardless of how vehemently the administration denies it to save face. The ever increasing migrant population and the resultant mushrooming of slums have left the city sanitation in shambles.

Census 2011 mentions more than 54,000 ‘service latrines’ – toilets where night soil is removed manually by scavengers or left to be ‘serviced’ by animals such as pigs – in Tamil Nadu. There were 463 houses in Chennai where night soil is removed manually by scavengers. This is the official household count and does not account for the ‘servicing’ that is required in crowded public places, slums and prominent OD haunts.

The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013, while defining ‘manual scavenger’ as someone who manually cleans, carries or disposes human excreta, fails to include those who work with ‘protective gear’ within its ambit. The Corporation swears by the measures it has taken to ensure safety. The reality, however, is different.

sewer-workersSewer workers use iron rods and
ropes to clear blockages.

“Take a look around and see if you can find any sanitary worker cleaning toilets wearing gloves or entering septic tanks with gumboots. Gumboots and gloves are almost ceremonial; workers are made to wear them when inspectors and officials come visiting,” states Ravanaiah.

More often than not, boots, gloves and reflective jackets are purchased in bulk, regardless of the users’ frames. “Officials say that we are supposed to work only with rubber gloves and not with bare hands. But it is impossible to grip anything with these over-sized gloves; we toss them out,” says sanitary staff L. Sundaram. As the inconvenience of using such protection overrides visible benefits, workers feel it is better to get done with their tasks quickly sans protection, than fussing over inappropriate masks and over-sized boots.

The 18th Century Miasma Theory, widely accepted in most of Europe during medieval times, proposed that the cause for all illness was exposure to ‘miasma’ or bad air. Though miasma as sole cause of diseases has since been disproved by the theoretical evolution of medical sciences, it helped establish the immutable connection between poor sanitation and ill health.

Human faeces turn into a toxic cocktail of sulphide and volatile gases when left to be digested in the absence of air. Septic tanks and underground sewers are replete with gases such as hydrogen sulphide, methane and carbon monoxide, by-products of organic decomposition.

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) being highly corrosive, the septage management rules, in no uncertain terms, has instructed the administration to ensure the use of sulphur-resistant cement to prevent physical damage to the structures owing to corrosion. “Hydrogen sulphide can corrode concrete. And still our men enter sewers with absolutely no protection,” rues director, Change India, A. Narayanan, who has been fighting for the rights of manual scavengers in court.

Low concentrations of the gas irritate the eyes, nose and throat, causing respiratory distresses. Headaches, dizziness and nausea increase with increased exposure. H2S results in ‘olfactory fatigue’, where the brain loses its ability to distinguish the smell, and, over time, the entire stimulus gets de-sensitised. Such fatigue is one of the main reasons behind men losing consciousness in septic tanks. The presence of the gas goes unnoticed by the olfactory sensors, and when the H2S accumulation in septic tanks or sewers exceed 300 parts per million (ppm), the gas gets absorbed by the lungs rapidly, causing unconsciousness and increased risk of death.

A resident of Tiruvottriyur, L. Siddhayya has been a scavenger for the Corporation of Chennai for over 15 years. Until four years ago, he would enter sewers to unclog blocks and desilt them for a daily salary of Rs 140. “I still unclog sewers, but no longer enter them. I work from the outside now, using only long rods and sticks. Too many instances of people being hit by toxic fumes; you don’t want to get killed by toxic fumes now, do you?” he smiles.

The threat of contagious infections is something scavengers have learned to live with. In the absence of appropriate protective gear, a simple scrape or a needle poke could put workers at risk of acquiring bacterial and viral infections like leptospirosis and hepatitis. Skin diseases are commonplace. Sanitary worker Saravanan’s biggest complaint was relentless skin inflammation and itchiness during his sewer cleaning days. Yovaan from Tiruvottriyur, too, suffered from skin infections. Both claim to have left entering sewers and work only with iron rods and ropes to unclog drains.

Alcoholism and the use of tobacco are deeply rooted in the profession. No person, in his senses, would get into a closed, smelly pit filled to the brim with filth. Many claim that alcohol is almost a necessity, to dull their senses before entering muggy sewage-filled pits. Such behaviour only increases the risk of unconsciousness in gas-filled chambers. “Most men spend close to a third of their earnings on alcohol, certainly wasteful, considering the fact that most families live in penury. And alcoholism can never be considered in isolation; it is almost always accompanied by domestic violence, fostering dysfunctional family dynamics,” says Narayanan.

For many, tuberculosis and asthma are lifelong companions. Muscle-aches, headaches and fever are so customary that they fail to raise alarm, Perumal, who worked in the sewers for almost 16 years until a few years ago, recounts his frequent visits to the doctor. The only motivation for sticking with the job, he says, is the belief that one day he’d become a permanent employee of the Corporation. That day is yet to dawn; might just never in his lifetime.

Perumal is not alone. Since manual scavenging is prohibited by law, the Corporation no longer recruits scavengers on a permanent basis. Instead, the work of unclogging sewers and drains is contracted out. A contract employee receives a fixed sum of Rs. 6000 month where a permanent employee would be paid around Rs. 14,000. In most cases, the tradition of sanitary work is passed from parent to child. In the absence of alternate employment options, due to educational and social deficiencies, many continue to be stuck with what they have been bequeathed.

No wonder then that not a single arrest was made under the Employment of Manual Scavenging and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993, the precursor of the 2013 legislation. Passed two decades apart, both laws sought to eliminate the use of unsanitary toilets, thereby manual scavenging, though the 2013 Act is much more stringent in terms of coverage. The Indian Railways and Cantonment Boards have been brought under the law’s ambit. However, no concrete measures have been laid down to ensure rehabilitation; monitoring and implementation mechanism lack clarity and continue to remain lax.

The Government washes its hands off workers’ deaths that occur on private property, individual households and apartment septic tanks. Many a time, death of scavengers working for the Corporation is ignored and the victims’ families are left waiting for any compensation. Narayanan has been filing public interest litigations (PILs) in the High Court of Madras to ensure the victims’ families receive the compensation (Rs 10 lakh for accidental death) promised by the law.

Narayanan has been pushing for a National Institute for Sanitation Research and Technology to be set up to address the issue of sanitation in its entirety. “Research still revolves around civil engineering, whereas the subject is much more than that. Basic sciences, social sciences and technology are integral aspects which often get overlooked. The need for manual scavenging can be greatly eliminated by employing appropriate technological solutions depending on sewage volume, constituents and geology,” he adds.

It would make more sense to bring all septic tank waste-handlers into a single fold, holding the Corporations or the authority designated for the purpose responsible for any mishap. Manhole dimensions and design need major reworking, according to Narayanan who points out that the opening is so small, that when a person dies in a sewer, it takes the fire services staff hours to bring the body out as it bloats quickly having been exposed to the concentrated filth and gases. – Courtesy: www.indiawater- portal.org.

Narayanan has been pushing for a National Institute for Sanitation Research and Technology to be set up to address the issue of sanitation in its entirety. “Research still revolves around civil engineering, whereas the subject is much more than that. Basic sciences, social sciences and technology are integral aspects which often get overlooked. The need for manual scavenging can be greatly eliminated by employing appropriate technological solutions depending on sewage volume, constituents and geology,” he adds.

It would make more sense to bring all septic tank waste-handlers into a single fold, holding the Corporations or the authority designated for the purpose responsible for any mishap. Manhole dimensions and design need major reworking, according to Narayanan who points out that the opening is so small, that when a person dies in a sewer, it takes the fire services staff hours to bring the body out as it bloats quickly having been exposed to the concentrated filth and gases. – Courtesy: www.indiawater- portal.org.

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